Investigation of piezoelectric ringing frequency response of beta barium borate crystals

Abstract

The piezoelectric ringing phenomenon in Pockels cells based on the beta barium borate crystals was analyzed in this work. The investigation results show that piezoelectric ringing is caused by multiple high voltage pulses with a frequency in the range from 10 kHz up to 1 MHz. Experimental investigation of frequency response and Discrete Fourier transformation was used for analysis. The method of piezoelectric ringing investigation based on the analysis of difference of real and simulated optical signals spectrums was proposed. The investigations were performed for crystals with 3 × 3 × 25 mm, 4 × 4 × 25 mm and 4 × 4 × 20 mm dimensions. It was estimated that piezoelectric ringing in the beta barium borate crystal with dimensions of 3 × 3 mm × 25 mm occurred at the 150, 205, 445, 600 and 750 kHz frequencies of high voltage pulses.